I heard about the game's horrible keyboard controls and while I do have a controller, I and one of my friends decided to experiment to see how they actually worked.

And we were surprised.

So here is the thing: the game take its cues from classic PC games in terms of its 3D movement, with the mouse controlling movement and WASD-bound directional movement. In theory, this would be just as precise as using a controller and if implemented especially well, in fact be outright superior.

However, after experimenting with my friend, I think I pinpointed the two problems that make this control scheme so counter-intuitive and hard to use as a whole.

-The first problem is an easily fixed one but a vital one: when playing with the keyboard and mouse, the camera become your primary directional control tool, as it determine which direction is forward and what not. As such, it is absolutely vital that it swings at very high speeds when you move the mouse and stops on a dime. However, when playing with the keyboard & mouse, the camera still respond with the speed and delays associated with controller-based gameplay. In pratice, it means that it take a second of delay for Yooka and Laylee to orient themselves at any time.

This is a major issue when you run into situations demanding a high level of precision. My suggestion for this? Have the player being capable of setting the camera to a keyboard & mouse style (or have the game detect it) and greatly increase camera speed & sensitivity to allow for smooth 3D directional navigation.

-The second problem is key rebinding and button prompts. A great advantage of keyboard controls lies in the ability to rebind practically every single player action to an individual key, thus allowing for a great level of customization.

Having correct button prompts that tell you what keys do what when playing as well as the ability to rebind keys would do a whole lot for the player experience ; for example, some players might prefer the jump button to be on the right-click button of the mouse. Some might prefer the wheel. Some might prefer the Z key or the X key. Some might prefer to control the duo with the arrow keys, the WASD keys, or IJKL. Some prefer action buttons near the movement buttons, others prefer them farther. My point is, allow players to re-bind keys.

Overall, the basis of the control scheme is actually excellent and brillant. But it has oversights that make it clunky in pratice and that I think stems more from lack of implementation polish than the actual control scheme being garbage. If those issues were fixed, I think it would do absolute wonders for those who don't have a controller or are looking for alternate control schemes.